Dentist fun (;)).

I did it- all three at the dentist on my own. 

Dave had to work and we basically took over the place. I had two kids in exam rooms and one in the waiting room at any given moment. I was constantly walking through the halls, helping with one and checking on another. Thank God the dentist is family and Sully is a rockstar as the girls both need me within arms reach most of the time. 

I can't think of a better reason to leave the house the day after Christmas when the forecasted high was -2. Oh well, its done- and to top it off, all three had a clean bill of health... yay! 

Predentist suckers :/.

Greta's turn- being so brave.  

Piper- first timer, only interested in the show- she did ok! 

Sully- rockstar. 

Balloons and (sugar free) suckers- the kids threw them away after the first lick- haha! 

Nonstop Christmas fun.

Connelly Christmas was early this year as the Oliver family headed south to be with Jeff's family. We had dual celebration as Anna turned 7 the same day. We had dinner and played games before opening presents. The kids were so good. They loved every second of their time with cousins. Greta, Capri, and Anna even put on a Christmas show. The fun lasted until 10pm, the latest we have ever stayed out since life with kids (we are getting a tiny glimpse of our future).

We continued Christmas on December 22 as we hosted Dave's family. It is honestly one of my favorite gatherings of the year. We start the prep work months in advance researching the best 'minute-to-win-it' games and prepping the menu. There is a lightness in the air- everyone arrives for fun and family, Dave is in his glory and my heart is so full. We went out on a limb this year and made beef tenderloin, after two trials, the third time was a charm as the meal was incredible. We will definitely do it again next year.

Dave and I were up until 2am cleaning and reminiscing about the fun that was had, which made Saturday pretty quiet as we recovered and prepped for more fun.

We went to 'Ferdinand' on Christmas Eve morning. It was our first time going to a movie as a family and it actually went better than we had anticipated. 'Ferdinand' is a favorite book around here, so when we saw it was coming to the theatre, we were all excited. We had lunch after and then went to a party at Alex and Mandy's that evening. It was loads of fun- we ate and played more fun games. We got home late- the kids were all falling asleep on our laps by the time we hit the road. We came home and hit the pillows hard, so hard that I forgot to do all of my bedtime 'chores' before Santa came (I woke up at 4am and was able to get everything done, in the nick of time, literally).

We woke up Christmas morning to Greta (in our bed), so excited she could have burst. We were able to push her off for a few minutes before she woke Sully and Piper. Everyone was happy and satisfied with the haul- it was so fun to watch their excitement. We rounded things out with nachos navidad with my parents and two of my aunts. Dave and I both fell asleep putting the kids to bed between 9-10pm and woke up late into the night with nothing cleaned up. It was worth it and nice to get a good nights sleep.

We survived the many nights of fun and are already talking about next year's celebrations.

Christmas cookie tasting. 

Cheering on cousin Maddie at her dance recital- she was so good . 

Connelly Christmas matchy match. 

Pic with these two as Pip naps. 

Connelly Christmas fun.

Grandma and Grandpa Banana with the g-kids. 

Mama gets in the on the antler fun. 

Sweet sibs. 

End of the night fun (I'm sad I hadn't taken any more photos).

Munce Christmas card 2017

Ferdinand. 

Subway for Christmas Eve lunch. 

Matching hats for the Munce boys. 

Christmas chaos :).

Christmas joy. 

A Greta Girl scare.

Monday was a scary day- a reminder that things can literally change in an instant. Greta had gone to school like normal in the morning and had a minor cough and cold so I had given her motrin before school. Dave picked her up after school at 11:45 and noticed she sounded congested, by the time she got into the house, she was in really rough shape, rapid breathing, audible wheezes, and an elevated heart rate. I called her teacher to find out when it had all started and she said she noticed her coughing more at the tail end of class.

After monitoring her here for about 30 minutes with no improvement, I took her into the ER. The doctor took one look and immediately started ordering things to help as he was cornered with her efforts to breathe. Her respiration were 60, heart rate was 170, and oxygenation was 88% with retractions, audible wheezes, and nasal flaring. All factors indicated how hard she was working to adequately oxygenate herself. It was scary, she was so brave and tolerated everything like a champ. Unfortunately she didn't respond how he had wanted from the nebulizer, suction, and steroids, so she had to have an IV placed to give her some additional medication and then we stayed over night for observation.

Greta was in much better spirits by the time we got to her room. We played in the toy room and were surprised with a visit from the Olivers who came with surprises which made her night. We also got visits from Dave and Sully (Sully was so worried about her and really wanted to stay over night with her), Grandma Banana, and Courtney and Andrew. She required over night monitoring and scheduled nebulizers until about midnight. We got loads of snuggle time in and nearly no sleep, but it felt good to have each other as we were both scared.

We were happy to be discharged the following morning. We had a probable asthma diagnosis as what she had appeared to be an asthma attack, which truly sucks. But given her history, I can't say that I am surprised. As we pulled away from the ER, Greta said 'Well, I never want to go to that place ever again!'. We had help from my mom, Maggie and Allie to keep things moving on the home front and they didn't miss a beat. Everything went back to normal (including the fighting :/) as soon as we walked through the door.

Our hugs are extra tight and kisses are extra sloppy.

ER action shot. 

Perked up when her buddy showed up. 

Hospital bed games. 

Breathing treatments and balloons. 

Sweet, peaceful baby girl. 

Our last treatment before discharge. 

Back to her spunky self. 

Well checks and a visit with Santa.

Greta and Piper had their well visits last week, its great to see them growing and developing exactly as expected. The only hang ups were a nursemaids elbow for Piper (which I've learned to reduce on my own...yay!), and some wheezing issues with Greta, mostly when she is around the Oliver's dogs. We will continue to premedicate and monitor her, no biggy, really.

Piper is 24.6lbs (18%), 2ft 8inches (12%)
Greta is 34lbs (40%), 3ft 4 inches(65%)

We rounded out the weekend out with trip to see Santa at The Prairie Center. All three kids were a bit nervous about meeting and talking to Santa. We promised them that none of them needed to sit on his lap and that seemed to calm the nerves. When our time came, Santa was so good about engaging and chatting with the kids, we had positive experiences all around. This year's hot items are as follows: Sully asked for a robotosaurus, Greta asked for LOL dolls, and Piper asked for a duck. We are patiently waiting for Christmas and all previously wrapped gifts under the tree have been unwrapped by a two year old, so the presents will make their grand entrance after Santa comes on Christmas Eve night. Everyone is really in the Christmas spirit this year- it is so fun to see it through the kids' eyes, thats definitely what its all about for Dave and I.

My baby- getting so big!

Greta, the professional. 

Greta has a brief chat with santa.

Family photo.

St. Louis, Thanksgiving, Minneapolis

We have been having loads of fun over the past couple of weeks, keep it coming!

Sully and Greta joined me in St. Louis to visit the Winters crew. They were great travelers, it seemed easy peasy compared to our previous transatlantic flight. We arrived in time to pick Sam and Tom up from school, which was really fun. Then we went to the Myseum for play and dinner before heading back home to play. Saturday morning was pancakes and more playtime before a sitter came that evening so Stacy and I could grab dinner and a drink. Before we knew it, we were on our way to the airport and planning their adventure to Sioux Falls this summer. Piper and Dave stayed home and took care of things around the house, I think they both loved the one on one time.

We snuck Thanksgiving in on Thursday and it was really fun. We ate at Maggie's house and had prepared some questions for the group which turned out to be a great success. We sat around the table chatting and laughing for hours. Everyone had a great time.

Maggie and I hit the road on Friday for a quick Minneapolis weekend. We strategized on the drive and hit all of the hotspots. We walked and walked and ate and slept and shopped (and even got in a movie/dinner date with Leanne). The weekends always go too fast, and we are constantly finding ways to improve the next trip ;). Can't wait!

Professional travelers.

A 2 second photo op while racing to our next gate. 

Airport walks wear this girl out.
Taking a quick rest on the bathroom floor :/.

The crew- getting so big!

All of us. 

Thanksgiving fun. 

Minneapolis fun.

Annual Christmas jammy photo.

Two, Halloween, and Four!

We had a fun week of celebrating the Munce girls, Piper turned 2 and five days later, Greta turned 4. We also jammed a bit of halloween fun in the mix during the week.

Piper is 2! She is a little string bean, working her way out of diapers (potty is about 75% there while number 2s are at 0%- mega yikes). It is so cute to see her little body, her pants hardly stay up now that she is out of diapers. She is sassy and silly, talking so much, and a pretty good tantrum thrower ;). As long as we are able to backtrack to where the tantrum started, we are usually able to work our way out of it, fortunately.

Greta is 4! She is super independent, my helper with all things potty training with Piper, and everything else that needs to be done. She has taken a mama's girl turn and I secretly love it. I love having her close; she is smart, shy, silly, and can do anything (as long as she has her buddy, Sully, nearby). She is into youtube, suckers, playing in the basement, and is gradually getting better at the school drop-off.

I always like to throw in an update on our current sleep situation, because I know someday I'll think back and say something foolish like 'we never had major sleep problems,' or 'the kids rarely slept in our room.' But the reality is that its the exact opposite. Piper had a quick bout of needing one of us in her room every night at some point. We are working our way out of it, but I have never been so happy to have her in a full bed as it gives us another sleep option. Greta is still coming in 98% of the time. Sully comes in about 25% of the time. Our rule of going to bed in your own bed remains, but all bets are off after we are all asleep.  Last week we had our first night where Dave and I woke up alone in our bed since Piper transitioned out of her crib-- yes, you read that right, ONE night. Haha, the good new is is that it can really only get better from here on out.

Halloween was smack dab in the middle of the celebrations, it was a cold year for trick or treaters. Between the cool temps and the wind, our kids only lasted out for a little more than an hour before they came home with cold faces and runny noses. We still had a good amount of trick or treaters here (250 per my count ;)). We love being in the neighborhood year round, but especially at Halloween time.

Celebrating Piper on her day: October 30th. 

Halloween fun- Peppa Pig, Pink Power Ranger, and Bumblebee. 

Trick or treating with the Kimbers.

Cassandra leads the birthday song. 

Big wishes from these two. 

Matching princess outfits. 

Mama with her girls. 

And one with Sully. 

All things Greta on November 5th. 

Three pretty princesses. 

What I imagined bedtime would be like.

Bedtime reality.